Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

    Bad Driver

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    Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

    They call it stick ‘cause it sticks;

    The gears whine as they grind and twist

    Entwined just fine until I try to shift.

    Shit. Was that third or fifth

    I think as I’m pitched

    Hit the wheel with my head

    And come up embarrassed

    But not dead yet.

    Heaving deep breaths to suppress

    The existential dread

    That makes each drive a guilt trip

    (cause each deft press

    Is one less fresh breath for my kids,

    If I get that far, driving like this).

    They call it stick ‘cause it sticks

    Around in the air too long for our species to live

    Two degrees and rising seas,

    A world on the brink and I’m worried

    About getting around at a quick enough speed?

    Life goes fast enough I think.

    Cruising in fifth, going extinct

    Dying en mas in the Anthropocene.

    Arrogant enough to think

    That post-Anthro won’t be what it means.

    Arrogant enough to try for sixth

    To blow out the motor, make a lever a stick

    And seven billion people into corpses.

    But humbly we insist

    That’s just the way that it is,

    We can change the climate

    But not the way that we live.

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